HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGN

BROOKLINE GYM

Second Semester Core Studio

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The problem that this project faced from the onset was that the variety of athletic programs (basketball, squash, swimming, et.c) required dimensions that were not easily compatible with each other. In order to accommodate the strict programmatic and structural requirements, the volume containing each sport gradually drifts to create variations in size. The inevitably left-over space is used as half-level balconies that allow visual access to more than one sport at a time, thus acting as viewing platforms. In addition, the project is a radical response to the site condition where one side is bounded by a party wall while the other is entirely amenable to spatial interventions. Logically, one set of the walls is entirely solid and impenetrable, and the other porous and luminous.